We Are Working for You

Last year brought a lot of changes to our staff here at Lane Electric Cooperative. We celebrated retirements, welcomed new team members and honored a life lost.

Dave D’Avanzo, manager of member services and regional affairs, retired after 15 years at Lane Electric and 38 total in the electric co-op industry. Wayne Schvaneveldt spent his 38-year career on our team, serving for the last 21 years as serviceman for the McKenzie and Row River area. Trish Jackson celebrated 17 years as cost accountant before her retirement.

Sadly, we lost engineering technician Bryan Brewster who passed of natural causes in November. We were all impacted greatly by this unexpected event. In his honor, we drove his truck in the Springfield Christmas Parade with his dog, Fred.

Arriving in the front office were Jayme Keeler as member service representative and Shelby Sanford as administrative specialist.

Bryan Brewster’s dog, Fred, rode in the Springfield Christmas Parade in honor of his owner’s passing.

In 2018, we not only invested in our human capital, but also in your power supply infrastructure. We completed four capital projects, including installing new glulam poles on Petzold Road. New poles and wires mean greater reliability. You can see and read about those in this month’s article “More than Poles and Wires”.

We also invested in the communities we serve. We donated more than $20,000 to local schools, athletic programs, and other community events and projects. You can read more about our 2018 accomplishments and contributions in our annual report in May.

Despite the changes, Lane Electric Cooperative is still committed as ever to its mission of providing safe, reliable, economical energy and other services to enhance the quality of life of our members. We strive to not only bring power to your homes and businesses, but to connect with you and become a cornerstone of your communities. Many of our employees are also members. Our board of directors and employees want to work side by side with you to improve our neighborhoods, schools and shared spaces.

As a community-owned utility, when we work together, we can overcome challenges, develop innovative solutions and support mutual goals. We have great hope in what our future holds for 2019 and beyond. We look forward to what we will be able to accomplish together for—and with—you, our members and neighbors.